


When Destinies Collide, Things Fall Apart (On Hiatus)

by Induurisa



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010), Tangled: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cass is mad, DPE, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I just need to vent angst after that soul-crushing season finale okay, I'm Bad At Tagging, Look I don't know what season 3 will bring and I'm not much of a theorizer so this is just like, Major Character Injury, Moonsandra, Near Death Experiences, On Hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Probably TBC, Probably full of plot holes and inconsistencies, Things will be explained as best I can later if I continue this, according to my perspective and ruminations, all for that sweet ANGST, anyway enjoy, everything is messy, i try my best, if you enjoy this then awesome, it's gonna be rough folks, like major spoilers, major season 2 spoilers if that wasn't very obvious, me doing what I want, my theories are messy so don't judge, probably, season 2 finale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-01-14 20:57:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18484210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Induurisa/pseuds/Induurisa
Summary: My spur-of-the-moment take on the immediate aftermath of the RTA season 2 finale, "Destinies Collide." Very messy and no real editing. This is just a self-indulgent thing for now.I will probably add more to this soon, because I've been having a fun time with it.MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF SEASON 2, IF YOU SOMEHOW AREN'T AWARE.I'm no expert on continuity or how magic things work in here by the way, so if something is wrong with the rocks and the hair and the Sundrop/Moonstone, well. That's probably just the way it's going to be for now. Like I said, self-indulgent.And my first Tangled fic, which is surprising. I've had several ideas for one-shots I've still got to write as well... Perhaps during the hiatus.EDIT: Speaking of hiatuses, this fic is on hiatus for the time being. I might get back to it before the series resumes, or I might not, but either way, enjoy what's here for now!





	1. Things Fall Apart

**Author's Note:**

> (I completely forgot about Pascal in this first chapter until the end, alright? It's a mess, like I said. hard to keep up with everyone. I might try and fix it later, but for now his presence has been retconned for the purposes of this fic to the antechamber with those not in the main trio.)

“I tried to warn you, Rapunzel… Be careful who you trust.” Cassandra took a couple steps forward with a smirk on her face, the sound of her footsteps harsh like the clatter of stone against stone. Her eyes, once a deep olive green, shone with a brilliant turquoise light that matched that of her almost glowing blue hair, and there was something distinctly unsettling about the transformation—not in appearance, but the change in her eyes. They used to have a hidden warmth to them, a compassion, borne of loyalty and love to her friends and her kingdom. That warmth had been extinguished with the Moonstone.

“Wha… Cass, what…” Rapunzel stammered, shaking her head slightly from side to side in disbelief, still held securely in Eugene’s arms as the pair of them looked up at their friend. “Why?”

Eugene glanced from Rapunzel to Cassandra, still in mute incredulity. Rapunzel pushed at his grip, and he reluctantly loosened his hold on her as they both rose to their feet. He placed a hand on her shoulder before moving slightly in front of her, putting himself between Cass and Rapunzel.

Cassandra chuckled wryly, still with that smirk on her face as she continued her approach. With each step, that hollow _clack, clack_ of her feet against the bridge the black rocks had formed echoed in the chamber.

“I told you, _Princess_ _Rapunzel._ This… this is my destiny.” Cassandra was only about two meters away now, and Eugene edged further in front of Rapunzel, narrowing his eyes.

“Cassandra, I don’t know what’s gotten into you. Or if this is even… you. But you need to stop this. What do you want? What’s your play here?” Eugene broke his silence, jutting out his chin slightly in her direction as he spoke. As he did, he realized that here, he was weaponless except for his fists. He hadn’t brought along his sword, or even a dagger from the other room. _Stupid,_ he thought to himself grimly.

“Please, Cass, we can fix this! Just… can we talk this out? We’re friends!” Rapunzel pleaded, and Cassandra looked between Eugene and Rapunzel respectively, tilting her head. Another chuckle, another smirk.

“Oh, Eugene… Rapunzel… We are _not_ friends.” She cracked her neck, still stepping closer. “Both of you have made that evidently clear. You treat that inane drunkard back there better than you’ve ever treated me! Always doubting my judgement, denying me, and showing me up! You pretended to be my friend to manipulate me. And you,” she pointed a sharp finger at Rapunzel past Eugene with a curl in her lip, “ _you_ were the worst of everyone. You’ve never done anything, never worked for anything in your life, and you get all the recognition! Well, that’s going to change now. Now, I have the power, and I can finally step out from behind your pretty little shadow.” Cassandra clenched a fist, gritting her teeth as she glanced down at the opal set into her chest and then back at Rapunzel. “When I get back to Corona, I’ll just say that you and the rest of your pathetic _friends_ had an unfortunate accident, that the power of the Moonstone was too much for you, but _I_ was able to take its power and control it. They’ll all see that I’m the real hero of this story, not you!”

Rapunzel and Eugene listened in dumbfounded silence, eyes unwavering from Cassandra’s as she spoke. The anger in her voice, the words dripping with malice… This wasn’t _their_ Cass. This wasn’t the Cass that had saved both of their skins time and time again, embraced them, smiled at them and with them, joked with them, poked fun, had their backs no matter what. Something had changed, and it was so, so terribly _wrong_.

“Cass… I’m so sorry. I never meant to take anything away from your accomplishments! You’re my best friend! You’ve always been there for me, whenever I needed you. If I ever seemed like I was taking you for granted, I’m sorry. Please, you don’t have to do this,” Rapunzel said, stepping to the side of Eugene’s protective stance. He glanced over his shoulder at her as she moved, frowning.

“Blondie, stay back. Cass—Cassandra—don’t come any closer,” he warned, extending his hand to the side to shield Rapunzel. Cassandra clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes.

“You’re nothing, Fitzherbert. Or should I call you _Prince_ now? Isn’t that just delightful that you’ve come home to your birthplace to die?” She took another step forward, the Moonstone gleaming where she had set it in her chest. Rapunzel saw a faint golden glow out of the corner of her eye, and felt her hair tugging her forward slightly. Even now, the Moonstone and the Sundrop longed to reunite once more. “What do you think you can do here? You’ve always been the dead weight, always taking, and never giving. Never working honestly for anything. There’s so little difference between a prince and a thief, this new revelation doesn’t change anything at all.”

“Cass, come _on._ There’s still time to set this right. Give me the Moonstone. We’re so close! Let’s just do what we came here to do, and when we get back to Corona, I’ll make sure everyone knows how important you are to me. How important you are to _everyone!_ ” Rapunzel urged, stepping further to the side from behind Eugene.

“Blondie—”

“You were there for me from day one. The day I returned to the kingdom, and I had no clue what to do, you were there. You’ve saved my life more times than I can count. I _trust_ you, with all my heart. If the Moonstone is influencing you, then fight it! You’re one of the strongest people I know.” Rapunzel took a step forward, pushing past Eugene’s extended arm. Her hair glowed more intensely. She was only about a meter away from Cassandra now, almost face to face. Cassandra scoffed.

“You think the opal is influencing me? Maybe it is. Maybe it let me see the truth behind all your lies. The lies you’re still spouting now, Rapunzel. But I’ve had enough talk. This ends now, and I’m going to be the one to end it. Not you. This isn’t your destiny anymore, it’s mine.” She shot out a hand—the one that had been injured by the reverse incantation—and before Eugene could do much more than let out a yelp of surprise, a series of the black rocks shot up behind them, trapping them on the bridge with nowhere to go but down. Cassandra’s arm kept moving forward, snatching Rapunzel by the collar of her dress and wrenching her up off her feet. Eyes wide, Eugene lunged to break Cassandra’s grip, but she pushed her free hand towards him, sending up more of the rocks to cage him. He grasped at air through the prison of the black rocks, unable to reach any further.

“No! Let her go! Cass!” Eugene yelled. As Cassandra hoisted Rapunzel higher in the air with her formerly injured hand, her left hand seemed to morph, forming the recognizable triangle of the black rocks. The edges of it glinted in the light of Rapunzel’s hair and Cassandra’s alike, sharp and deadly.

“Cass, please—”

“Shut up.” Cass swiped her bladed hand through the air, and Eugene shouted in alarm, unable to look away.

The stone blade clanged against Rapunzel’s hair.

“Impossible. I have the Moonstone now. This should—” Cassandra began, but Rapunzel wasn’t going to waste words on talking anymore. She twisted out of Cassandra’s vice-like grip and shot a hand out towards the Moonstone embedded in Cassandra’s chest, aiming to pry it loose. But Cassandra still had the reflexes of a well-trained soldier, and she’d recovered quickly from the surprise of her stone blade not cutting through the hair of the Sundrop. She flipped backwards, skidding across the gleaming surface of the bridge, even as Eugene let out a sigh of relief as he watched between the gaps in the black rocks. He’d expected the worst.

“Not so fast, Princess. You will never take my glory from me again,” Cassandra growled as she crouched and made ready to dart towards Rapunzel to seize her destiny once more. This time, she swore to herself, she would do whatever needed to be done. Whatever… sacrifices… needed to be made.

Rapunzel locked eyes with Cass briefly before flinging a loop of her hair towards one of the black rocks imprisoning Eugene, hooking it there and giving it a sharp tug to make sure it would hold. As Cassandra started to race towards her, Rapunzel ran and leapt off the side of the bridge, swinging around the wall of black rocks that had blocked her and Eugene’s exit. With a shake of her wrist when she landed, she released her hair from the rock and threw it over the wall as a makeshift rope to help Eugene scramble over.

“No! You will not escape me that easily! You will not take this from me, Rapunzel! This is _my_ destiny!” Cassandra yelled, shoving out both hands towards the escaping pair, Eugene just barely making it over the edge of the wall. Black rocks surged behind them as they scrambled towards the exit, hand in hand with Rapunzel in the lead, her hair still glowing gold behind her.

The rocks spiked up behind them as they ran towards the fallen statue of Edmund that was blocking the doorway.

“Lance! Your majesty—Father—! Max! Adira!” Eugene scrabbled at the bottom edge of the stone, grunting as he struggled to make some headway in lifting it as he glanced over his shoulder. The rocks were almost on top of them, with Cassandra stalking towards them in a dark fury behind the stones she controlled. “Help us! Cass—”

“Look out!” Rapunzel shoved Eugene aside as one of the black rocks surged out of the bridge where he’d been crouching a moment before. He sprawled along the bridge, immediately jumping to his feet as he wheeled to face Cassandra again.

“Eugene?” Lance’s voice, faint and muffled, from the other side. “Are you guys alright?” Eugene grabbed Rapunzel by the arm and moved her behind him as the black rocks rose from each edge of the bridge, closing off any escape down. Rapunzel glanced over her shoulder and gasped as more of them slid up to seal the doorway behind them. She could only hope that one of their friends would get the message that something was very wrong before it was too late for them to help.

“Enough. There’s no escape. Once I’m through with the two of you, I’ll take care of the others as well,” Cassandra said darkly. Rapunzel flinched, shaking her head as she met her friend’s eyes once more. This was too much. _This wasn’t Cass. It couldn’t be._

Eugene spread his arms to either side, placing himself between Rapunzel and Cassandra again as he steeled his gaze. Whatever sacrifices needed to be made…“You’re not touching her. Cass, I know we’ve had our differences. But this? Betraying the princess, your friend, you swore to protect? You’ve gone too far. Stand down. You don’t want to do this,” he said, glaring at her as she approached them, more of the black rocks rising behind her to box them in on the narrow space of the bridge. There was a strange squealing sound from behind Eugene and Rapunzel—and all of the three within the Moonstone chamber recognized that sound.

“The shadow blade!” Rapunzel murmured, glancing behind her. Cassandra scowled, clenching her fists at her sides as she squared off before the pair.

“They won’t reach you in time, and they won’t stop me from fulfilling my destiny. I won’t make the same mistake twice,” she said, forming another blade at the end of her right hand. Eugene pursed his lips as he glanced between Cassandra’s glowing blue eyes and the stone blade.

And then she attacked, launching herself past Eugene and aiming for Rapunzel’s throat. Eugene tracked her trajectory and threw out a hand, locking his fingers around Cassandra’s wrist as she dove towards Rapunzel and using her own momentum along with a little leverage from his stance to throw her against the wall she’d formed out of the black rocks. She tumbled against them with an enraged yell, rolling back to her feet as Eugene pushed Rapunzel further back and raised his fists in defense. This wasn’t right. Friend against friend. He was reminded too keenly of Varian—he’d never known the poor kid all that well, but this time… Cass was a sister to him. He loved her.

“You’re dead, Fitzherbert!” Cassandra screamed at him, blue hair wild around her face as she let out a battle cry and swung at him.

“Stop!” Rapunzel snapped out her hair between Eugene and Cass, and the blade on Cassandra’s arm clanged uselessly against the golden strands. In the close proximity to the Moonstone once more, her blonde locks were glowing again. Eugene glanced behind him at Rapunzel. He had to protect her. He had to get her out of here, stall enough for their friends to hack through the statue and stones on the other side. She was the Sundrop, and she was important to the entire world that way, but she was more than that to him. And he would do anything to make sure she was safe.

“Rapunzel, stay back. Cass, come on. You’re really having trouble fighting someone like me? Former thief, now maybe a prince? Is that really all you’ve got? For all this destiny talk, you seem kind of weak-willed in trying to—oof—” His goadings were met with a sound knee from Cassandra in his gut, and he doubled over, hand automatically moving to his stomach to protect himself as he looked up, heart racing. He heard Rapunzel yell in protest as Cass swung her bladed hand at him again, and he just barely managed to catch her wrist with his free hand.

She was strong. Stronger than before, and she could already have held her own in an arm-wrestling match against him before the Moonstone. He brought his other hand up from his winded abdomen to keep her from slicing him, arms trembling from the effort. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rapunzel racing forward to help. No. She couldn’t be let near Cass—if she got too close… he didn’t want to imagine the consequences.

As Cassandra brought her other arm up and formed a similar blade to the first, Eugene sprang into action. He dropped to one knee in a spin, sticking his leg out to trip up Rapunzel before she could reach Cass as he ducked under Cass’ other blade, rising up to throw her off-balance. Time seemed to move in slow motion as Cassandra stumbled and Rapunzel went sprawling to the side, her mess of glowing hair cushioning her fall.

But Cassandra recovered faster than Eugene had anticipated. The Moonstone was augmenting her movement as well as her strength, and she stood at the ready even before Eugene was able to catch his own balance after the move he’d pulled. Her blade-sheathed right hand arced towards him, and he threw up an arm instinctually to shield his face.

One might think getting stabbed in the gut and resultantly dying would prepare one for the pain of being slashed with a blade. It didn’t. Eugene shouted in agony as Cassandra sliced into his arm like it was nothing, the razor-sharp tip of her blade cutting through it as easily as Adira’s shadow blade had cut through the black rocks. The pain in his arm was so much that he hardly felt the stone dig into the skin of his face, slicing a gouge from one eyebrow down his opposite cheek. Absently, he thought, _Not the nose, not the nose..._ as his vision swam. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and… in his arm? That wasn’t where that should be coming from.

As Cass moved away, leaving him crumpled on the bridge floor in shock, he looked down at his injured arm. _Oh. That’s… a lot of blood._ He could hardly see the damage as black danced at the edges of his vision. No, no, Rapunzel. He had to stay awake. Had to protect Rapunzel. If he was down, she’d be after her. Had to get up, had to get up.

As Eugene sat dazed in a growing pool of blood, Rapunzel’s heart dropped in horror. Not again. She wouldn’t let him die again! Cass turned her way, abandoning Eugene with a sneer and baring the bloodied edge of her blade. Rapunzel narrowed her eyes, blinking away tears. Not the time for crying. She had to do something.

The reverse incantation… Of course.

“Cass. Don’t make me do this,” she warned, stepping back. “Please don’t make me do this.” The sounds of Adira’s blade hacking through the blockage grew louder. They were almost there. Almost there. Cassandra scoffed.

“Please, _Princess._ You can’t hurt me anymore. I’m beyond your reach now,” she said, stalking towards Rapunzel. Rapunzel’s gaze flickered over Cass’ shoulder at Eugene— _Hang in there, please, hang in there, Eugene_ —and then met her friend’s eyes again.

“I refuse to believe that. This isn’t how our story ends. Not mine, not yours, not Eugene’s. And I’m going to make it right,” she said, setting her jaw as she grabbed handfuls of her hair in either hand, preparing to throw them.

“You’re right, Rapunzel. This is just how _your_ story ends. Not mine,” Cass growled, and then she lurched towards Rapunzel in a flurry of movement, blade bared. Rapunzel whipped her hair in front of her, ensnaring Cassandra within the glowing golden strands and twisting to throw her friend off balance. She hesitated for an instant—but then she saw Eugene out of the corner of her eye—and she resolved her will. This was the only way.

_“Wither and decay…”_

“No! You can’t do this—”

 _“End this destiny…”_ Cassandra writhed within the tangle of Rapunzel’s hair, but her arms were trapped at her sides. She couldn’t wriggle free, not fast enough.

“Stop!” Rapunzel closed her eyes as they filled with pools of darkness, squinting them shut. All she could hear was Cass’ horrified cry back at the Great Tree when she’d accidentally injured Cass’ hand…

_“Break these earthly chains…”_

“Rapunzel!” There was a growing panic in Cassandra’s voice. She could feel her energy waning, but it felt different than when she’d been under the spell of the reverse incantation before. The Moonstone was sustaining her, but it felt as if something else inside her was being torn apart. She couldn’t place it in the moment, but it frightened her as much as what she’d seen within the shell house…

_“And set the spirit free.”_

“RAPUNZEL!”

There was a crashing sound behind Rapunzel as Cass screamed her name, and she turned, opening her eyes, to see the wall of black rocks fall in pieces on the bridge, revealing Adira with her shadow blade with Lance and the others following close behind.

“What in the—” Adira’s eyes widened at the scene as she glanced from Rapunzel to Cassandra to Eugene, now passed out on the ground.

“Eugene!” Lance immediately dove past Rapunzel and Cassandra to his best friend’s side, horrified.

“Get him out of here!” Rapunzel yelled, still holding tight to her hair and the ensnared Cass as she began the incantation anew. Cassandra was still yelling and moaning in pain and protest as she continued. _“Wither and decay…!”_

“Son!” Edmund came up behind Maximus as Lance scooped Eugene into his arms—too much like at the Great Tree, only so much worse, so much worse. As Lance ran back towards the king of the Dark Kingdom, he glanced at Eugene’s face. It was too pale. He’d lost too much blood. Lance bit his lip as he grabbed Max by the reins and hopped up onto the white horse’s back with Eugene still tucked in one arm, adjusting his grip as he sat in the saddle.

_“And set the spirit free…”_

“Rapunzel, you need to go _now!_ I’ll hold off Cassandra!” Adira—abandoning nicknames—rushed forward to Rapunzel’s side with her sword still in hand, being careful not to touch the Sundrop.

 _“Wither and decay…”_ Rapunzel’s eyes were black pools. Adira cursed under her breath.

“Princess, snap out of it!” In desperation, Adira swung her shadow blade against Rapunzel’s hair. As it clanged against the darkened strands, Rapunzel blinked, meeting Adira’s eyes.

“What—?”

“Go!” As the incantation was stopped, Adira took her chance and shoved Rapunzel back, breaking the younger woman’s grip on her hair and sending her stumbling. Cassandra fell limply to the bridge floor with a groan, and Adira readied herself with her shadow blade, adjusting her hold on the two-handed grip. “It looks like your journey isn’t over yet, Rapunzel. Regroup with your friends. I’ll hold off… I’ll hold off the Moonstone.”

“Adira, I—”

“I said go!” Adira growled, elbowing Rapunzel aside. “Edmund, your majesty, get her out of here! Edmund!” The king was still in a stupor after watching Lance hurry off with a pale and bloodied Eugene, but he shook his head clear. He had a duty. His son… his son was in good hands, he knew.

“Come, Sundrop!” He lunged forward and scooped Rapunzel up as she protested, carrying her easily from the chamber and following Maximus’ lead out into the antechamber. Rapunzel flailed around initially, protesting, but once they reached the antechamber and Edmund set her back down, she started to get ahold of herself. She couldn’t think too hard about what had happened yet. For now, they had to get out of here. Adira wouldn’t be able to hold off Cass for long when the latter recovered from the incantation’s effects.

Maximus was waiting off to the side with Lance and Eugene on his back, and Fidella pranced up to Edmund and Rapunzel with Shorty and Pascal clinging onto her mane.

“Princess, we need to go now!” Lance urged, looking between Edmund and Rapunzel and then back down at Eugene. His friend wasn’t looking any better. He needed medical attention as soon as possible. Rapunzel bit her lip, holding back tears as she swung herself onto Fidella’s back, followed by Edmund.

“Let’s go,” she whispered, and she flinched as she heard the clash of blades in the room where the Moonstone had been.

And they ran.


	2. Darkness Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rapunzel and the others make their way through the Dark Kingdom castle to escape, stopping to tend to the injured Eugene on their way. Meanwhile, Cass and Adira's battle concludes, and Cassandra has a brief moment of reflection...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, here we are again. A week gone by, and a new chapter. This one was a little tougher to hammer out (and it's still hardly edited again, so excuse any errors), but it should link up some bigger stuff I have planned for upcoming chapters. This hiatus-era story is just beginning, my friends. Come, take my hand, and we will fly away on an angst hang glider!
> 
> (Sounded better in my head, but it's 2:00 in the morning, so gimme a break, yo.)
> 
> TL;DR: More self-indulgent angst! Enjoy! (But there is actually a bigger story to this... Stay tuned.)

It was Edmund who led them into the winding depths of the castle, deeper than the chamber where the Moonstone had resided in its solitary cage for so many years. The castle and kingdom itself had been constructed around that ancient chamber, so it was like the shell of a nautilus with room upon tortuous room built on top of one another. For the most part, it was silent, save for King Edmund’s quiet direction and the clopping of the horses’ hooves against the stone floors.

Rapunzel’s eyes flickered from Eugene’s unconscious form cradled between Lance and Max’s neck to her own hands, wringing her hair between her fingertips anxiously. She just couldn’t understand why… What had even happened back there? Everything was so close to finally ending; this journey was so close to finally coming to a nice, tidy close. But Cass had shattered that destiny when she’d grabbed the opal. It just didn’t make any sense. And now, Eugene. He could be bleeding out—again—because of Cass. Their _friend._

“Turn here,” Edmund said, his strong voice soft and subdued. He glanced over his shoulder at Lance, Eugene, and Maximus. Concern creased his features as he studied the pallid complexion of his son. Far too pale. As pale as his mother had been before she… Shaking his head, he directed Fidella onward through the turn, leading them into the oldest part of the structure they’d ventured within thus far.

“Wait, stop.” Rapunzel slid from Fidella’s back before Edmund could protest, disturbing Shorty. The drunkard had been solemnly quiet the whole time. Pascal, perched on Rapunzel’s shoulder, made a quiet trilling sound, glancing up at his best friend’s face and patting his small hand against the collar of her dress. “We need to help Eugene. Now.”

“Sundrop, if your ‘friend’ catches up to us here, we’re going to be cornered. He’s my son, but I—”

“It doesn’t matter! Just stop for a moment, okay?” Rapunzel turned back to Edmund sharply, cutting him off. The older man went quiet, but he didn’t protest further. They hadn’t heard any sound of Cass giving pursuit. Not yet, anyway.

They all dismounted in the narrow-walled room. The stones here were more rough-hewn than the polished ones back in the more modern levels, but time and traffic from years gone by had worn them down so that they were not still jagged to the touch. Lance lifted Eugene from Max’s saddle, laying him on the stone gently as Rapunzel, Edmund, and Shorty gathered around, the horses looking on. Max nickered softly, nudging Rapunzel’s arm.

“I know, Max,” she murmured, and knelt at Eugene’s side with Lance. The gash across Eugene’s face from Cassandra’s blade was deep, but not serious. In any other situation, had it been less dire, had it been the result of a crazy accident instead of the betrayal of a friend, it might have been something at which to poke fun. Ah, the perfect complexion of the famed Eugene Fitzherbert, formerly Flynn Rider, marred at last! Would they ever get the handsome new scar right in the “wanted” posters now?

But no one was amused or laughing. No one was making jokes—the main jester of the group lay before them, still bleeding from the deep wound in his arm. Rapunzel wrung her hands through her hair again, momentarily at a loss. Injuries used to be nothing to her. What couldn’t be healed with a quick song and a touch of her golden hair? But she hadn’t tried the incantation again since Cass—since Cass had brought her to see Varian. Would it even work? She had to try. Please, let it work.

“Princess, let me,” Lance began, starting to tear some more fabric from his shirt to staunch the blood. He’d already wrapped the arm as best he could while they were riding away through the castle, but the beige fabric had become as red as his vest in short time. Not good. An arm wound shouldn’t be bleeding this much unless something really important was nicked or cut through.

Rapunzel nodded to him as he set about changing the fabric, still hovering at Eugene’s side. She leaned forward to brush his hair away from his forehead, lingering for a beat. _Too cold, too cold._ She squinted her eyes shut for a moment as she scooted up to him and tore a piece of fabric from the hem of her dress.

“Max, water?” She reached upward, and without even meeting the loyal horse’s eyes, she felt a water canteen drop into her hand. She poured out a bit onto the torn cloth in her hand before gently dabbing at the cut on Eugene’s face. Lance was busy peeling away Eugene’s torn jacket now, and Rapunzel heard him suck in a breath as he took more time to examine the site of the wound. Pascal trilled in her ear as she glanced down, and she had to look away. Memories came rushing back of the tower, of Gothel, Eugene dead in her arms… No. Not again.

“Okay. Come on. This has to work, right? It has to work. I mean, the reverse incantation worked, didn’t it? So…” Rapunzel dropped the bloodied cloth she’d been using to clean the wound on Eugene’s face and took a handful of hair from the ties she’d put it back up in while riding away from the opal chamber. Lance glanced up at her, and she nodded at him to step back. Reluctantly, he did so, but didn’t move more than an arm’s length from Eugene’s side. Raps carefully leaned over Eugene, delicately moving his injured arm—she felt bile rising in the back of her throat as she spotted the white of bone, but swallowed it back down—and winding her hair around it. The gold was stained red almost immediately. She took a breath, closed her eyes, and started to sing.

_“Flower, gleam and glow…”_

As she started the second stanza, she chanced a peek through her lowered eyelids, hoping against hope that this time, _this time,_ maybe the incantation would work again. But her hair wasn’t glowing. She choked out the next lines, more hurried, tears in her eyes. Tears! When her hair had been cut, she still had the magic in her tears! She frantically brushed at her eyes with a narrow finger, catching a tear. She moved her hair aside from the wound and reached forward, touching the tiny droplet to the edge of the injury.

“What is she doing?” Edmund muttered from behind her. There was no glow. No burst of light. Nothing.

“No, no, no. This should work. This is supposed to work!” Rapunzel shook her head, shoving her hair back over Eugene’s arm and starting the song again.

“Princess. Rapunzel, let me. It’s going to be okay. We just have to stop the bleeding, alright? Can you help me do that?” Lance asked gently, leaning in to lay a hand on Rapunzel’s shoulder. She stopped singing, her voice breaking, and nodded.

“Y-yeah. I can do that,” she said, and steeled herself. She was _not_ useless without the healing incantation. She was _not_ just someone who hurt whatever she touched or whatever touched her, like with Cass’ arm. She could do this.

Lance guided her through cleaning the wound, and Rapunzel even had a small sewing kit in one of Max’s saddle bags that they used to stitch up the gaping injury as best they could before binding it tightly. Eugene was blessedly out for all of it, save a few soft moans of pain every now and then.

Edmund didn’t even realize that he’d been clutching the pendant around his neck in a death grip until Rapunzel and Lance had finished what they could. All this time, and he’d finally reunited with his only son. If he’d lost him now… Edmund turned away slightly. He couldn’t bear it. He’d sent his son away to protect him. And now, when the Dark Prince had returned, he’d been injured as a result of the very thing Edmund had sent him away from in the first place. What kind of father couldn’t even protect his own son?

“You did great, Princess,” Lance said, and smiled down at Rapunzel warmly, though it was obviously strained. She nodded, forcing a wan smile of her own as she looked down at the bloody rags around them. There was a length of her hair, dyed red and slowly turning a dirty brown from being wrapped around Eugene’s arm. Useless magic. She slowly put it back up with the rest, not wasting any more precious water for now with cleaning it.

“Sooooo… what’re we waitin’ for? Lezzz gotta move on, shall we?” Shorty slurred from behind the horses, announcing his presence for the first time since they’d made their escape.

“This one is right. We shouldn’t waste any more time. We still don’t know if your friend back there is in pursuit. For now, we have the home field advantage, and our head start. Let’s not waste those,” Edmund said, turning back towards the others. Lance hooked an arm around Eugene and propped him up.

“Wait, Lance. Let me,” Rapunzel said, and she hopped onto Maximus’ back, trying to avoid looking at the reddish-brown stain from Eugene’s blood that was stark against the white of the horse’s fur. Lance nodded, and lifted Eugene’s limp form into the saddle in front of Rapunzel, leaning him against Max’s neck as Rapunzel held him with one arm. Lance trusted her. The woman his best friend had come to love even more than life itself was strong, both physically and mentally.

“Shorty, too. You and Edmund weigh down Fidella enough,” Rapunzel said, nodding to the bearded man by Max’s side. Lance lifted Shorty like he was nothing and set him down on the saddle behind Rapunzel.

“Woooooo…” Shorty mumbled through his beard on the way up, but was silent again once he was seated, swaying slightly from side to side. Lance just shook his head, turning back to Edmund.

“Your majesty,” he said, nodding to Fidella, who whinnied and stamped an impatient hoof on the stone floor. Edmund nodded, dropping the pendant he was still clutching and mounting the horse. Lance followed suit behind him, and Edmund took the lead once more through the castle’s dark tunnels.

Rapunzel trailed behind on Maximus, one arm around Eugene and one hand holding the reins. Max was gentle and slow in his movements, trying not to jar any of his riders. Pascal crept down Rapunzel’s shoulder and arm, moving to sit on Eugene’s back in the little shelf created by the pauldron strap and his jacket. He blinked up at Rapunzel, cooing and tilting his head sadly.

“I still don’t get it, Pascal… Cass. Why would she do this? She…” Rapunzel wiped at her eyes with the back of the hand that was holding the reins, and Max glanced over his shoulder at her briefly, nickering softly. “She must have had a _reason._ Was I really neglecting her that much? I didn’t know… I know we’ve had our disagreements, but I thought we’d worked through that. I knew it would take her time to forgive me, but I just didn’t know she…” Rapunzel sniffled again, shaking her head. A couple tears fell onto Eugene’s back, and Pascal looked up into her eyes, trilling.

“No, you’re right. I haven’t given up on her. She’s still my friend. And I never give up on my friends. It might take time, but we are not leaving Cass here alone.” Rapunzel wiped her face with the palm of her hand, breathing deeply to settle her nerves. “ _I’m_ not leaving her here alone.”

 

* * *

 

Adira would have won, if it’d been a fair fight. She’d faced the girl before and won with hardly any effort at all. Hardly even trying. It was _Adira,_ after all… And if anyone knew how strong she was, it was Adira herself.

But it hadn’t been a fair fight. Mortal versus Moonstone, Adira had known going into the battle that she would never win unless the victory was handed to her on a silver platter. Alas, she couldn’t be so lucky. The Moonstone had granted Cassandra strength, it seemed. But not just strength—dexterity, invulnerability, and stamina. It was like fighting one of the black rocks themselves, and in a sense, it was. Adira’s shadow blade hadn’t made a scratch on Cassandra’s dark, spiny armor or on the stony blades the younger woman had summoned to her hands. Unlike the black rocks produced outside of the opal’s sphere of influence, like the ones that had been blocking the door to the Moonstone chamber, the opal seemed to create impervious stones when it was in close proximity to them. That, Adira supposed, was how her shadow blade had been created in the first place. It had been from the explosion Edmund had triggered when he’d tried to grab the Moonstone. Even so, though her blade didn’t break against Cassandra’s attacks, her own strikes were useless.

She’d made a last ditch effort after Cassandra had sliced open her shoulder, aiming a blow at Cassandra’s face, but the power of the Moonstone was too great, and Adira too weakened by that point. She was disarmed, her blade skittering across the narrow bridge and lodging into a cluster of the black rocks Cassandra had raised, and then she was at the Moonstone host’s mercy.

“Well? Aren’t you going to kill me? That’s what you were planning on doing, wasn’t it?” Adira asked sharply, clutching her bleeding shoulder and ignoring the pain. She’d had worse, though this wound burned like nothing she’d experienced before. Perhaps another of the Moonstone’s qualities. Still, for someone who’d traversed the Forest of No Return with bronchitis and lived to tell the tale? Nothing she couldn’t handle.

Cassandra stood above Adira, a blade formed within her left hand pointing down at her opponent’s throat. It would be so easy. Even after years of training how to fight, how to kill, she’d never actually taken another person’s life. And despite her conviction, she hesitated, as she had with Rapunzel when she’d gone for her former friend’s hair instead of her head at first.

“No. If I know Rapunzel, I won’t have to follow her. She’s going to come back for me. And if she doesn’t come back for me, she’ll come back for _you_ ,” Cassandra said flatly, almost wearily. “She still thinks her destiny is here, even after I’ve claimed it for myself. Well, she’ll see. I’ll make her see.” Adira frowned up at Cass, narrowing her eyes. Something wasn’t quite right about this new version of Cassandra. The young woman she’d come to know briefly, though troubled, had never let show any signs of this sort of instability. Interesting. Obviously, there was more to the story, if she managed to live long enough to find out about it.

“Well, that’s just convenient. How about I save you the effort of keeping me trapped here and save Rapunzel the return trip to save me, and I’ll just go on my merry way?” Adira asked, starting to stumble to her feet. Cassandra jabbed her blade closer, inches from Adira’s neck.

“Don’t try anything, _Adira._ I’ve always hated you, you know. Your arrogance. Thinking you’re always right. Bet you didn’t see this one coming, huh?” Cassandra snapped, and with her free hand, she summoned more of the black rocks behind Adira to block her escape. The shadow blade lay abandoned behind Cass’ back, still lodged firmly in the black rocks. Too far to reach, even with Adira’s arsenal of tricks and moves. At full strength, maybe. With help, maybe. Without facing a Moonstone-augmented opponent, maybe. Adira sighed.

“Yes, yes. I am well aware of your qualms with me. Why don’t you tell me about _you_ , then, Cassandra? What prompted this? You were supposed to protect the princess, and then you try to slaughter her and her companions? If you wanted her to trust your judgement, you made a pretty crappy move to achieve that,” she said. Cassandra merely snorted, chuckling.

“Wow, so there _is_ stuff you don’t know. Finally admitting it, huh? Well, how’s this? _I_ don’t answer to _you._ ” She summoned more of the black rocks from the bottom of the chasm, creating an addition to the bridge’s narrow width as she commanded others to rise around Adira, trapping the older woman within a circle of the stones. “I don’t answer to anyone anymore.”

Adira scoffed behind the bars of her new cage. Great. And she didn’t have her sword. She glanced over to where it still stuck out from the rocks, embedded up to the hilt like the sword in the stone.

“Delusions of grandeur much? So I don’t know everything. Neither do _you,_ Cassandra. What are you planning to do next? What if Rapunzel comes back with friends, and ruins your plans? What if you _lose?”_

“Shut up!” Cass wheeled around, hurling an arm out and sending a narrow blade of stone whistling between the cracks of Adira’s prison. The blade zipped through the gaps of the black rocks and embedded itself in the pedestal where the Moonstone opal had been for centuries. “Shut. Up.” Adira watched Cassandra’s back as the blue-haired woman turned away, walking back along the bridge to the antechamber where the statues had been and picking her way through the rubble of rock and shattered sculptures as she passed through the doorway.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, Cassandra, but you are alone in what you do. One who stands alone never triumphs in the end. Believe me, I know,” Adira called after her, but there was no response.

Cassandra left Adira in the cage she’d made for her, ignoring Adira’s parting words as she strode through the antechamber and let her bright blue eyes flit between the destroyed remains of the statues of the kings and queens long past. Dust. That’s all they were now. Well, she wouldn’t be. She would get what she’d seen behind that door. What she had been shown.

_But why stop there? You could have_ everything. _The world itself, at your fingertips. Who needs respect or trust when you can be_ feared? _You want to be important. To be regarded, to be remembered for what you’ve worked so hard to accomplish, to prove… Why not…_

No, no. Cassandra shook her head. She had a plan, and she wasn’t going to stray from that. She didn’t need anything more than what she’d been shown behind that door. Not yet, anyway. First things first. The Sundrop, and her former friends. Once she’d taken care of those things, then she could decide what to do afterwards.

As she walked on through the main hall, Cassandra’s eyes now strayed to the royal portrait of King Edmund and his nameless queen, and she paused before the crackling remains of the fire that lit the room in a fading orange-yellow glow. Eugene’s father and mother, huh? Yeah, right. She clenched her right fist at her side—her formerly injured hand, restored to its former strength.

_Even I cannot bring back the dead… But when you give me the Moonstone and the Sundrop, we can change that. We can have whatever we want. With you at my side..._

Empty promises, she had sensed as much. She didn’t trust the entity behind that door. But she did trust herself. She would find a way on her own. She always had.

“Be careful who you trust, Cass,” she muttered to herself. Her voice was hollow, echoing in the room, and she didn’t hear the soft hoot of an owl or the whistle of wings gliding through the air behind her over the sound of her own voice whispering her name back to her in the growing darkness.


	3. Respite and Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The main group takes refuge in a hiding place at the back edge of the castle, and there are a few heart-to-hearts, though not all is quite resolved.
> 
> Meanwhile, all is not quite right with Cassandra. And there is something else coming...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much on schedule with an approximate weekly update! Writing this was quite fun, and I hope it's as entertaining to read for you as it was for me to write. Also a bit longer than previous chapters... and unedited. Still very self-indulgent. Take everything with a grain of salt, ha.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who's commented and/or given kudos! I've never really shared much fanfic before, and I'm so glad other folks are enjoying it.

The group reached the outer edge of the castle as the last rays of sunlight faded from the already muted purple sky, and Edmund showed them all to an old guard post there, long abandoned. It was tucked within a cave created by several of the larger spikes of the black rocks that formed the Dark Kingdom’s center, and Edmund assured them that unless one knew where it was and where to look for it, it would be safely hidden from enemy view. Despite reservations about stopping to rest so soon, it had been a long day for everyone. They needed the rest.

The post was small—really only built for three people, and certainly not five people, two horses, and a chameleon. Max and Fidella were left outside, since they couldn’t fit through the narrow entryway. Lance and Rapunzel helped Eugene, now semi-conscious, but not quite awake enough to form words beyond incoherent mumbles, into one of the three bunks in the back of the post. Then, when everyone had settled in as much as they could, Rapunzel stole away to one of the ancient closets and closed the door.

The space was hardly big enough for even someone of Rapunzel’s small stature to crouch, but she managed. She pressed her forehead against the cold black rocks that formed the back of the closet and squinted her eyes shut, and finally let herself cry freely.

Her best friend, besides Pascal and Eugene.

How had this even _happened?_ Demanitus’ prophetic warning that someone would betray her… had it been referring to Cass all this time?

Rapunzel’s shoulders shook as tears continued to well in her eyes and drop one by one onto the floor, and she couldn’t help but make a tiny whimpering sound of distress as she rocked back and forth on her heels in the closet.

_I don’t understand. Cass, why would you do this? We’re friends…_

She couldn’t unhear her friend’s chuckle of laughter or the cruel look in her eyes, and she couldn’t unhear her own voice, saying the words of the reverse incantation to _intentionally hurt_ her own friend. The time back at the Great Tree had been an accident. What if, underneath the armor of the Moonstone, she had caused even more damage? What if she had accidentally _killed_ Cass to protect her other friends? Rapunzel shuddered. She hardly even wanted to think about that possibility. But her mind was still swimming, her thoughts churning incessantly. _Why, why, why?_

She would have continued to stay there longer if there wasn’t a little tapping sound on the outside of the closet door. She knew that sound. And she cracked open the door while still crouching on the floor to let in Pascal, who cooed up at her tear-stained face and crept forward hesitantly.

“Hey… Pascal,” Rapunzel said, her voice shaky from crying. Her oldest friend trilled, and she nodded, letting him know that it was alright for him to join her. She let the door remain cracked open as Pascal scampered into the closet with her and hopped onto her outstretched hand, taking her palm for an impromptu elevator ride to her knee as Rapunzel shifted her position to get slightly more comfortable in the cramped quarters. “Thanks for checking in on me. Are the others alright? How’s—how’s Eugene?”

She would go and check on him again the moment she was done taking a moment’s respite for herself, but she needed to know in the meantime. Pascal let out a few squeaks and trills, shrugging a bit.

“Good. At least he’s going to be okay. Pascal, I couldn’t bear it if… if anything happened to him. Or you. Or—” Her voice broke as she started to say Cass’ name, and she bit her lip, pushing at her eyes with the flat of her hand to quell more tears before they could blur her vision. “I never expected this to happen. We were _so close,_ Pascal. Why did she do that? And why did she try to _hurt_ me? And Eugene? We’re her _friends!_ ” Her words were indignant, offended now. How _dare_ Cass do this? How _dare_ she betray her friends? How _dare_ she try and hurt them? How _dare_ she force Rapunzel to have to try and hurt _her?_

Pascal let out a forceful squeak, patting one of his little hands down on her knee firmly to get her attention. Shaking her head slightly, she looked up into his eyes as he trilled a response. His tone was firm, but gentle, and Rapunzel sighed, then taking a deep breath in and letting it out again.

“Right. Right. No overthinking. Just breathe, got it. Breathe.” And she did. She closed her eyes, and breathed as Pascal patted her knee softly to the beats of her breaths. As she went through the exercise, her heart calmed, and her mind calmed with it. After a few minutes, she felt more in control again. At least for now. If she didn’t think about it too much, it was fine—if she didn’t think back to those moments in the opal chamber, it was fine. Pascal cooed up at her and crawled up onto her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek. She leaned into his touch, laying a hand on his back as they sat together for a few moments. The eye of the hurricane. That’s the lull that they were in now, she thought. The calm, before the storm…

“Thank you, Pascal. I’m still not okay. But I can do this. I can deal with this, with you guys to help me,” Rapunzel said, sniffing sharply to clear her nose and then wiping her cheeks of any remaining tears. Her eyes were still red and raw from crying, but she was done mourning the loss of her relationship with Cass for now. Now, there was planning to be done and action to be taken.

 

* * *

 

Edmund sat at Eugene’s side with Lance as Shorty napped in the bunk above. The king of the Dark Kingdom—or what was left of the Dark Kingdom—let out a heavy sigh as he stared at the face of the young man his son had grown up to become. A face now left with an angry red line running diagonally from brow to cheekbone across that famed nose of his. He reached out a hesitant gloved hand towards Eugene’s before hurriedly pulling it back as Eugene shifted. Lance looked up from his lap at the movement, face tired and worn from the day’s events.

“Your majesty… maybe it’s not my place to ask, but what makes you think Eugene is your son, anyway?” Lance asked slowly. Edmund cleared his throat, replacing his hand beneath his bear-skin cloak as if doing so could hide the fact that he’d tried to reach for his son moments before. Why was he embarrassed? He was a king, for crying out loud. But he hadn’t seen his son since the boy had been a baby, barely a month old. And he hadn’t touched anyone in affection in twenty-five long years. How could he even start to make up for that time with a son he’d only known through “wanted” posters collected by ravens over decades?

“It’s his eyes. They’re mine, and his mother’s. And there’s something else that only being a parent can make you feel, when you set eyes on your child. When you look _into_ their eyes. Sorry, what’s your name? It’s all been rather busy. I’d like to get to know my son’s friends, after all,” Edmund said quickly. Lance raised an eyebrow. Okay, then. Sounded like a kind of dubious way to ascertain parentage, but did it really matter as long as his best friend had a dad? He supposed not. Eugene had been left waiting with no one to call family for years, and now he finally had someone who claimed him. And not just as a future in-law, but as a son by blood.

“Lance. Lance Strongbow. But you can call me Lance,” Lance grinned. The smile was still somewhat forced, and it faltered as Eugene let out a shallow moan on the bed before them, but it helped to lighten the mood slightly.

“Lance Strongbow… Pleasure. And my son still goes by ‘Eugene Fitzherbert,’ does he? Heh. He has me to thank for that one. I told his nurse to give him that name instead of his birth name to keep him separated from his past. I didn’t want him seeking out the Dark Kingdom, with the danger this place brings. Well, I suppose that plan didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped,” Edmund said with a scoff. “He still showed up anyway. And even though I’m glad to see my boy again, the first thing he does when he comes back to me is get hurt. Not… not the reunion I had hoped for.”

Lance listened quietly, raising an eyebrow at the story behind Eugene’s name.“So… ‘Eugene’ isn’t his real name?” He asked, fiddling with a loose string on his torn undershirt and glancing up at Edmund. “He has three names now?”

“Three? There’s another besides ‘Eugene,’ is there? Ha. Can’t say I blame him, though. No, Lance, his birth name was Bastion. A strong name, for a strong heir to the throne. A throne that’s now in pieces, however. He comes back home and I have nothing to offer him anymore but heartbreak,” Edmund said, a bitter edge to his voice. Nothing to offer but a dead mother, a lonely widower of a father, an empty throne and an empty kingdom, and the betrayal of a friend. Truly, this place brought ruin to all who entered. If only his son had stayed away.

“Bastion…” Lance repeated. He didn’t like it. Weird sound. Certainly didn’t suit Eugene. “Look, your majesty. Eugene didn’t come back here for you. Or even for himself. He came here to help the love of his life fulfill her destiny. It isn’t your fault things turned out the way they… the way they did, but look on the bright side. You’ve got your son. My best friend has a dad. And even if we’re all trying to figure out what to do next, not everything is dark and dismal about this place.”

“Dark and… dismal abou... wha now?” Eugene’s hollow voice broke in, and both Edmund and Lance jumped in their seats.

“Eugene! Buddy, you’re awake! Uh, try not to move that arm. It’s kinda—”

“OW! MOTHER OF—”

“—in bad shape.”

Edmund winced in sympathy and rose from his seat, letting Lance have some room with Eugene as he stood a few paces back from the bunk. He certainly knew his fair share of arm pain. That tended to be the case when you lose an arm above the elbow to a mystical opal explosion. At least his son would be more fortunate and would be able to actually keep his arm, though when Edmund had inspected the damage for himself, it looked far more serious than something that would heal just fine given enough time.

“Ow, ow… freakin’…” Eugene hissed in pain as he tried to sit up in the bunk, squinting his eyes shut as Lance rushed in to help him.

“Easy there, pal. The princess and I did our best to sew it up, but it was bad. You’re lucky the blade didn’t actually cut through the bone. Barely nicked it. Even so, the muscles are really damaged, and, uh…” Lance trailed off as he met Eugene’s eyes, which were narrowed through a sheen of pain. “Right. Not the time for a prognosis. Got it.”

“I’ve had worse, right?” Eugene chuckled drily. “Can’t get much worse than dying.”

“Wait, what?” Edmund started, finding his hand clutched around the pendant that hung from his neck once more. “Dying?”

“Oh. Hi, your majesty. Er, Father. Uh, long story. I’ll have Lance or Blondie fill you in sometime. Not important right now. Wait. Blondie. Lance, where’s—” Eugene’s eyes widened as he searched the room frantically. Oh, no. No, no. He’d passed out, and he must have let… Oh, no—

“Eugene, relax. She’s fine. She’s just taking some time to recover. Y’know. Emotionally,” Lance assured his friend, and Eugene’s shoulders slumped in relief. The movement jostled his injured arm, and he let out a short grunt of pain. “But, uh. Adira held off Cassandra back there, and she hasn’t come back. We don’t know if...”

“Adira can handle herself,” Edmund interjected firmly. “She’s one of my best warriors, besides Hector and Quirin. If anyone could hold their own against someone wielding the power of the Moonstone, it’s her. Besides, I sent Hamuel to check in on things as we were making our escape. He should be back soon with news. I trust that raven with my life.”

At this, both Eugene and Lance raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Edmund looked between the two younger men, fiddling with the purple pendant stone at his neck.

“Okay, but besides Adira. What about Cass? I’m assuming…?” Eugene asked, trailing off. Lance sighed, shaking his head.

“I don’t know what happened, Eugene. We only got you two out safely because the princess had used that reverse incantation on Cass and weakened her with it somehow. Adira stalled for time for us to make our escape. We just don’t know what happened. I’m sorry,” he explained slowly. Somehow, saying the words made it even more painful to realize. Lance had admired Cass a lot, in more ways than one, and seeing her become whatever it was she’d turned herself into was hard to witness. Especially from the sidelines. “She’s still back in the castle, as far as we know.”

Eugene swallowed hard, nodding. His mouth was so dry. And he felt cold—both physically and with this new knowledge settling into his mind. What the hell had compelled Cass to do something so stupid? I mean, he doubted her judgement more than anyone else of the group, but even Demanitus’ warning hadn’t prepared him for something like _this._ For just how far she might go. But it still didn’t make sense. Something was missing, and it didn’t sit right with him.

“Hey, uh. Is there any water around here? Kinda parched,” Eugene said, clearing his throat and trying to sit up more. Immediately, his head spun and darkness started to cloud his vision. Lance saw Eugene’s eyes go hazy and pressed a firm hand against the shoulder of his friend’s uninjured arm, holding him down.

“Nuh-uh, Eugene. You stay right there. You lost a lot of blood, and that’s going to take some time to replace. Don’t you remember back with the Necklace of Hope incident when we were kids?” Eugene groaned, partly from the pain that was already there and partly out of dramatic exasperation.

“Do _not_ remind me about that, Lance. Y’know, it would have gone to plan if your allergies hadn’t been acting up and you hadn’t _sneezed_ as we were making our getaway,” Eugene drawled, but stayed where he was, settling back into the bed. Edmund tilted his head slightly, listening. He had many stories to catch up on with his son. Especially with the whole mention of “dying” back there. What the hell had that been about?

“I’ll go get some water. Your majesty, why don’t you stay with him?” Lance said, moving aside from the bunk and motioning for the king to take his place at Eugene’s side. Edmund pointed an index finger at his own chest and mouthed, _“Me?”_

Lance nodded slowly as Eugene looked on at his father with a slight roll of his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. We’ll get to have some father-son bonding time. If you’re really my dad, anyway. I guess then it would just be king-regular-dude bonding, then,” Eugene jerked his head for Edmund to join him, and then winced, wrinkling his nose.. “Wait, what… oh, crap. Is my face okay? If Cass messed with the nose, then she’s going to have a lot more to answer for than just for betraying the love of my life.”

“Just… don’t look in a mirror anytime soon, buddy. I’ll be back in a bit. Gonna check on the horses, too,” Lance said, and jerked a thumb at the door before leaving as Eugene let out another groan.

“Lovely. Just great. I swear, when I meet Cas _san_ dra again, she is going to get the worst talking-to of her damn _life_ …” Eugene muttered under his breath, holding his injured arm close to his chest as he tried not to focus too hard on the pain of the wound or the pain of the betrayal. Make it a joke. Brush it off. It would work out. Things always had, right? Even dying hadn’t messed things up permanently before… why should now be any different?

As Lance let the door swing shut behind him, Edmund settled into the rickety old chair by Eugene’s bedside, fumbling with the pendant again as he sat down. By now, he was used to sitting down without the balance of a second arm, but this time it was more clumsy than usual. Where to even begin?

“So, son. You, uh… you play any sports?”

_Oh, no. Even the dinner conversation had gone better than this._ But what was he supposed to say after his son was betrayed by a friend and almost bled out in his birthplace home? How do you even start a conversation after something like that?

“… You really haven’t been around people in a long time, have you?” Eugene said drily.

“Well, no. I was the Dark Kingdom’s last line of defense before the spirits of our ancestors, son. To protect everyone else, including you, I sent them all away. Like I said before,” Edmund replied. “And, uh. I suppose I should apologize.”

Eugene settled back on the old—slightly crunchy-feeling?—pillows and let his chin drop slightly. Hm. An apology. If this man really was his dad, then yeah, there were a few things for which to apologize.

_Oh, I dunno… maybe 23 freaking years of being left on my own and struggling to survive?_ Eugene thought, and met Edmund’s eyes stoically. Now that he really looked, though… The king _was_ right about there being a resemblance in their eyes. Eugene had certainly looked into a mirror often enough to know his own eyes, and there was something about this older man’s eyes that reflected some similarities.

“Yeah, if you are my dad, an apology might be in order. But I also have questions. Now that we’re just sitting here,” Eugene shrugged. Ah. Bad idea, shrugging. He kept forgetting about the arm. Damn, it hurt—it was a constant burning and aching sensation, and with every movement, it felt like someone was holding a searing hot knife against the skin of his forearm and then pushing it through the skin and into the muscle below. He gripped his elbow with his opposite hand, hugging his arm closer as if the slight pressure would lessen the pain.

“Easy, son… Don’t strain yourself. Your ‘friend’ back there did a real number on your arm there. But hey, at least you’ve still got one!” Edmund nodded to his stump oddly cheerfully, and Eugene nodded slowly.

“Yeah… uh, yay? By the way, how did that…? If you don’t mind,” Eugene said, nodding towards Edmund’s lack of arm.

“Oh! Right. Well, remember when I told you about the opal and its destructive properties? Turns out that trying to grab it isn’t such a healthy idea. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but either during the blast itself or in the immediate aftermath, my arm was ruined. When they pulled me from the rubble, there wasn’t much left of it. Which begs the questions actually—”

“—How did Cass grab the opal and not… get blasted?” Eugene finished the thought with a frown. “She _did_ grab it with her injured hand. When Rapunzel was saying the reverse incantation back at the Great Tree, Cass touched Blondie, and her hand was never the same after. Maybe that had something to do with it.”

“I doubt that’s all there is to the story. People have tried to move the stone with artificial means before, you know. Never worked. It wouldn’t let anything touch it. Perhaps your friend used some sort of magic or alchemy to shield herself from the effects…”

“She’s just a guard and a lady-in-waiting, though. She’s no alchemist, or magician. Anyway… I’ll have to think about that. Let’s get back to this apology business, yeah?” Eugene said, filing away the thoughts about Cass for later. He’d have to discuss it with Blondie.

“Right. Uh, apology. As you know, I kept track of your exploits with my ravens, son. And I’m sorry that I had to be apart from you your whole life. You don’t know how much it pained me to have to be away from the only family I had left in the world after your mother… after your mother passed,” Edmund said solemnly, looking down and clutching the pendant once more. Eugene followed his father’s gaze to the necklace.

“Yeah, must have been _real_ hard. At least you knew you still _had_ a family. At least you still had a _home._ ” Eugene scowled. “What’s with that necklace, anyway?” There was more he wanted to say. More indignant replies, more harsh words.

All this time, with a king as a father. He’d had close calls with death on a practically daily basis ever since he and Lance abandoned the orphanage and headed off on their own. Brushes with death from injuries, lack of food, exposure. Not to mention getting caught and paying for their crimes with their lives… And now, all of that could have been avoided? All those years of pain? It stung. Bad. And Eugene knew that if this king really was his dad, then this conversation would not end here.

“Ah. The necklace. This was your mother’s, son. I’d given it to her when she told me she was pregnant with you, and she returned it to me right before I lost her. Before _we_ lost her. And it’s my fault she’s gone, son. She died from wounds inflicted by the blast that cause the kingdom to start to fall around our ears, from the blast that was created when I tried to reach for that damned Moonstone opal,” Edmund explained, patting the pendant down on his chest before taking it between his gloved fingers and holding it up. Eugene squinted at it as Edmund held it up to the light. It was beautiful. The light from the candles that lit the room flickered and danced within the crystalline structure beneath the stone’s surface, inviting the eye to peer closer.

“Hm,” Eugene was mostly silent for once, and he looked away from the stone pendant to try and remember the face of the woman in the portrait Edmund had shown him. Already, he could hardly remember what she looked like. And he’d been robbed of any chance to have a relationship with his mother or father… all because of this king’s foolishness? The Dark Kingdom had survived for centuries before Edmund had come along. Before he’d tipped the scales and tried to mess with the Moonstone. If he’d just left it alone, would Eugene have had the life he had longed for as a child?

 

_“There was this book. A book I used to read every night to all the younger kids._ The Tales of Flynnigan Rider _… Swashbuckling rogue, richest man alive… Not bad with the ladies, either. Not that he’d ever brag about it, of course.”_

_“Was he a thief, too?”_

_“Ah… Well, no. Actually, he had enough money to do anything he wanted to do! He could go anywhere that he wanted to go. And… and for a kid… with nothing… I don’t know. It just seemed like the better option.”_

 

Eugene scowled at the memory. He could have had a real life. The life of his childhood hero and idol, no less. If his so-called “father” hadn’t…

But then he’d have likely never met Rapunzel. Never met the love of his life.

Everyone has a destiny, huh? Even now, he wasn’t sure he believed in that. But he supposed that if he had to go through those 23 years of life alone, without a family, barely scraping by… If he had to do it all again to be with Rapunzel, he would. He loved her more than anything in the world.

“Son?” Eugene’s thoughts were interrupted by Edmund, who had a look of concern on his face. Eugene realized he must have been zoning out pretty hard.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. Just. I wish I’d known her. My mother. I wish I’d known both of you. Or at least known you were out there, y’know? You think it was hard being apart from a family you _knew_? Try being alone and feeling like everyone in the world had abandoned you, and having no family at all. Lance was the closest thing I ever had to family then, and I love him like a brother. It… it was hard. You kept track of my by all my criminal exploits, didn’t you? You should know that it wasn’t a cakewalk.” Eugene looked down at his hands, his gaze straying to the improvised bandages on his arm. The outer strips of fabric were letting spots of red peek through. Should probably change those soon, he thought.

Edmund nodded slowly, and the chair in which he was sitting creaked with the movement.

“I’m so sorry, son. It’s my fault, and I’m not… I’m not trying to shift the blame to anyone or anything else. If I had done things over again, I would have done them differently. I lost my wife, my son, and my kingdom. If the Sundrop can somehow put an end to this madness that your other friend has made even worse now, I swear I will do everything in my power to assist you both. I couldn’t be there for you before, son. But I will be now. I only ask that you give me a chance,” Edmund said, and Eugene looked back up, nodding slowly. He was still mad. How could he not be? And it was still not quite computing to him that _this man_ sitting before him was a _king_ , probably his _father_ , and that he actually came from somewhere, that he _hadn’t_ been forgotten at the orphanage, that someone _had_ been watching.

“I’ve had a second chance of my own in life, in more ways than one. So. It’s only fair, your majesty,” Eugene said, shrugging. Gah. Again with the shrugging—not a good idea with his arm the way it was.

“Thank you, son. And please, you can call me Father. Or Edmund. Whatever floats your boat, son. You’re an adult. Adult kids call their parents by their first names, right? I can’t remember been a while,” Edmund rambled, and Eugene scoffed slightly, but in amusement.

“Baby steps, alright, your majesty? Baby steps.”

 

* * *

 

When Lance returned with water for all—Edmund had pointed out a freshwater spring nearby the guard post they had taken shelter in upon their arrival—Rapunzel entered the bunk room from the hall with Pascal on her shoulder, eyes still red from crying.

Eugene had been gulping down the water like a parched desert wanderer, but the moment Rapunzel entered the room, his eyes snapped to her as he dropped the canteen and started to try and rush over to her.

“Blondie! Thank goodness you—”

This course of action, naturally, ended up with Eugene immediately stumbling from the bed and on a face-first collision course with the stone floor. It was only the quick reflexes of Lance that kept him from face planting and damaging his already injured face further as the larger man reached out and hooked an arm around Eugene’s torso to keep him upright. Unfortunately, doing so also put intense pressure on Eugene’s wounded arm. Eugene cried out and almost blacked out from the pain before Lance hurriedly set him back on the edge of the bed, propping his back up with one hand and steadying him with the other.

“Eugene! You’re awake!” Rapunzel’s eyes lit up for the first time since the betrayal, and she closed the distance between them, settling on Eugene’s other side at the bed. Edmund watched from the sidelines with a soft smile that was partially hidden beneath his mustache, the pendant weaving heavy on his chest. Oh, his wife would have loved to see the man their son had become.

“Ow—yeah—I’m awake. Blondie, thank goodness you’re okay. You’re okay, right?” Eugene hugged Rapunzel with his good arm as she leaned into him, and he breathed in the constant springtime scent she seemed to emanate no matter the season, resting his chin in her hair.

“I’m… not ‘okay.’ But I’m okay,” Rapunzel said, her words spoken with a certain deliberateness that made them more painful to both say and to hear. Eugene sighed, hugging her closer as he closed his eyes for a moment, just being present with her, and Lance supporting him, and his father in the room, and… Shorty, snoring in the bunk above. Oh, well. No moment was ever going to be absolutely perfect.

Pascal trilled at Rapunzel’s shoulder, crossing over her hair to perch on Eugene’s good shoulder as the couple reluctantly broke their embrace. The chameleon nuzzled Eugene’s cheek fondly, and Eugene chuckled.

“Hey, frog. I’m okay, yeah. Mostly. Arm hurts like hell and the face is apparently not a hundred percent, but I’ve been worse. This guy _did_ come back from the dead, remember?” Eugene managed a smirk as he jerked a thumb at himself, looking between Pascal and Rapunzel. _Oh, Blondie._ He could see she’d been crying.

“You lost a lot of blood, Eugene. I was _so_ scared. The thought of losing you, _again_ , especially after Cass…” Rapunzel bit her lip. She’d run out of tears for now—her eyes were dry, almost uncomfortably so—but her voice was cracking with emotion. Eugene reached for her hand with his good one, keeping his bad arm tucked close to his body to avoid jostling it.

“Hey. Sunshine. It’s going to be alright. I’m gonna be okay. It’ll just take time. And look, we’re together, and I believe in us. I believe in you. We’re gonna fix this, alright?” He squeezed her hand, and she nodded, looking up into his eyes. It was hard to avoid wincing in sympathy at the gash on his face, but she managed to ignore it for the most part.

“Yeah. I know. I’m not giving up on Cass. I never have, and I never will,” Rapunzel said firmly, and Pascal trilled in agreement.

“There it is, princess. We’re going to get her back, somehow. And I—” Lance was cut off by something small, black, and scruffy zooming in through one of the narrow window slits and hitting him squarely in the side of the head. “What the—?”

“Hamuel!” Edmund gasped in delight, rushing forward to scoop up the fallen bird from the ground where it had landed in a feathery heap. The raven chirruped, disgruntled, settling himself onto the king’s shoulder where he was placed.

“Wait, not just your bird. Look!” Rapunzel gave Eugene’s hand a squeeze before getting up to see Owl swoop in after the raven, hooting loudly.

“Wait, is that—?” Eugene narrowed his eyes.

“Cass’ owl, Owl!” Rapunzel held out her arm for the bird of prey to land on it, and Owl hopped up and down urgently, still hooting up a storm. Pascal trilled from Eugene’s shoulder, tilting his head with concern.

“I see Hamuel must have led your friend’s bird to us. Let’s just hope it’s not in cahoots with her,” Edmund said darkly, but Rapunzel shook her head.

“No! He’s not. He’s upset about something. Pascal, little help?” Rapunzel scooped Pascal from Eugene’s shoulder to help with translating.

“I will never understand what it is with princesses and communicating with animals,” Lance said from Eugene’s side, shaking his head in disbelief.

“It’s Adira. She’s been captured, but she’s alright. And Cass is still where we left her. She’s waiting for… for me to come back,” Rapunzel interpreted with Pascal’s help. Owl let out a long, sad hoot, shaking his head.

“So it’s a trap,” Edmund said, feeding Hamuel some scraps of meat from a pouch on his belt. “She wants the Sundrop, and she’s just going to wait for you to come back to rescue Adira. But she’ll use Adira as a hostage. You won’t have any leverage in a situation like that. It would be best to leave Adira for now and strengthen our forces once more. Sundrop—you are a princess, from Corona, are you not? There are embassies and outposts away from your kingdom and closer to our location. We’d only need some time to gather our forces, and then we can—”

“No. I’m not going to put anyone else in danger. This is between me and Cass. I just… I need to talk with her, somehow. I _know_ I can get through to her. She’s my friend,” Rapunzel said firmly. Eugene sighed, shaking his head.

“Blondie, I know you think she’s still your friend, but _she_ doesn’t think she is. We _tried_ diplomacy, remember? That didn’t go so well. We don’t have all the information. We’re missing a piece of the puzzle. _Why_ did Cass do what she did? She didn’t just decide to do something like that on her own. She isn’t stupid—no matter how much I might argue otherwise sometimes. She must have had a good reason. A good motivation,” Eugene said, and Rapunzel turned back to Eugene, sitting in the chair by his bedside as Owl lifted off from her arm and perched on the railing of the top bunk. Shorty rolled over in his slumber with a few mumbled words, disturbing Owl’s perch before he could quiet settle. He fluffed his feathers indignantly.

“Eugene is right, Princess. Cass has been with us all this time. If something had happened, we’d know about it. So when was she on her own?” Lance said, moving slightly closer to Eugene to steady him as the latter man swayed a bit where he sat, still unsteady from the blood loss.

“When was she on her own…” Rapunzel mused. Pascal trilled in her hand, and she set him on her shoulder. “Well, yes, Pascal. But I doubt she would have gone far during her nightly watches. When was she really separate from all of us for a long time?”

Owl hooted loudly, flapping his wings to get everyone’s attention. Pascal gave another trill and squeak to Rapunzel, whose eyes widened.

“Of course! The House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow! You’re right, Owl! Wait, you were with her? What happened? Did you see anything?” Rapunzel stood on her tiptoes as she looked up at the top bunk railing, meeting Owl’s large yellow eyes. The bird hooted a few times, low and dejected, and seemed to shrink down on his perch.

“Huh… So whatever happened in that room, behind that door… you couldn’t see it? It was like a vision, then? She must have seen something,” Rapunzel said after consulting with Pascal.

“Great. What if that isn’t even _our_ Cass? What if it’s like the mirror versions of ourselves all over again? Who knows what went on in this place. Come to think of it, how do we even know _Owl_ here is actually… _Owl?”_ Eugene asked, frowning. Rapunzel sighed, shaking her head.

“I have a feeling, Eugene. And why would a false version of Owl even tell us about Cass maybe having a vision in that room, anyway?”

“Lots of reasons. To mislead us, for one,” Eugene offered, but then shrank back a bit as Rapunzel turned to him. “Just saying.” Rapunzel sighed.

“You are right, though. We can’t be a hundred percent sure. But you have faith in _me,_ right? Well, _I_ have faith that this Cass is our Cass, and this Owl is our Owl. I don’t want to consider anything else right now. Since the shell house was destroyed… I’m not going to believe for _one second_ that we’ve lost Cass entirely. Either to that place or to the Moonstone. Okay?” Her voice was strong and sure, and Eugene was reminded again just by how much he was in awe of this woman.

“You got it, Blondie. You know I’ll follow you no matter what happens. I’m just saying that… I don’t want you to be even more hurt if things don’t turn out the way we want them to,” Eugene said, looking down at his hands. Lance gave his shoulder a squeeze, and Eugene leaned into it slightly. He didn’t want to believe that they’d lost Cass, either. But it was hard not to entertain the possibilities when things had changed so fast and so much.

“I get it, Eugene. And trust me when I say that I _will not_ let things end this way. That’s a promise.”

 

_“And when I make a promise, I never, ever break that promise. Ever.”_

 

_But what about her promise to Varian? What good was a hollow promise?_

 

Eugene tried not to think about it. Brush it off. Joke about it. Right. It would be fine. He and Cass would be jibing at one another in no time again. Faith, Demanitus had told him. Right… Faith.

 

* * *

 

Cass ate alone after shoving some food scraps through the bars of Adira’s impromptu prison. She’d ignored the remarks the older woman had made, ignored the urges to rethink what she was doing. At least, she had at the time. Out of anger, out of a sense of self-righteousness. What did she know? Crazy, weird lady.

This path Cassandra was forging was _hers,_ and hers alone _._ She was going to be the great hero of the story. _She_ was going to unite the Moonstone and Sundrop at long last. _She_ was going to be the hero of the realms. _She_ would finally be the one recognized, loved, lauded, respected, and trusted.

But as she ate alone at the long dining table, with the sightless eyes of the king and queen of the Dark Kingdom boring into her backside from above the fireplace mantel, she felt a twinge within herself. Cassandra remembered the feeling of her stone blade slicing through Eugene’s flesh, easily as a hot knife through butter. How easy it would have been to kill him, right there. But she’d left him there as she’d turned her attention to Rapunzel. She couldn’t kill them. She couldn’t kill her own _friends…_ Couldn’t she?

_But they were never your friends, Cassandra. Not really. You know that, deep down. They never trusted you, never respected you. All you were to them was the lady-in-waiting. Someone to wait on them, to be used._

Right. Of course. She was doing what needed to be done, that was all. It wasn’t even personal. To claim her destiny, to be who she’d always longed to be, they needed to be out of the way. Maybe she wouldn’t even have to directly _kill_ them. Maybe she could just… trap them here, forever. Hidden behind impenetrable black rocks until the end of time. Yes, that was a good plan. Then she wouldn’t actually be the one to give the final blow. Where was the guilt in that?

Cassandra dropped her fork and knife to the table with a light clatter, sighing heavily. She just wished she had someone who understood. The entity within the door. _That_ had understood her, whatever it had been. It had understood her, but she didn’t trust it. She still didn’t trust anyone but herself.

If only there was a way to go back to it. Speak to it again.

_My dear, what if I never really left?_

She stood with a jerk, sending her chair toppling behind her and clattering to the floor. No. But that was _her,_ not something else. Her own thoughts. They were, weren’t they?

_Oh, mostly._

“Who… no, I’m just thinking to myself, that’s it,” she said aloud, her voice hollow and echoing far too loudly in the otherwise deathly silent hall, save for the crackle of the flames. “I’m just… thinking to myself. Or maybe it’s just the opal. The thing behind the door said it could influence the mind. But I’m strong. My mind is strong. It has no hold over me.” Right?

_Who… or what… has hold over whom, I wonder?_

“Just thinking to myself. Just… thinking to myself,” Cassandra repeated. She turned and set the chair back onto its feet, about to turn away, but hesitating when her eyes passed over her formerly injured arm. It was coated in a more blueish-hued form of the black rocks that had formed a shell around her, maybe a result of the enchantment the entity behind the door had claimed to have cast. The enchantment that had allowed her to seize the Moonstone, and her destiny. The enchantment that had given her full use of her arm and hand back, at least temporarily.

She clenched and unclenched her fingers on the back of the chair, the stony armor clinking and sliding against itself as it shifted—almost organically—as she moved, without creating a gap in the armor even once. Her eyes moved from her hand to the Moonstone at her chest, and she brought a finger to its gleaming surface, shivering slightly as she touched it. It was almost electrical with the energy it seemed to emit.

Power. That’s what it was. And when she had the Sundrop, too?

_When_ we _have the Sundrop…_

Then she could do anything at all. She could have her arm back for good, not just some quasi-reanimated façade. And she didn’t need the entity behind the door. Why had she even thought that? All she needed was herself. That’s all.

_You need me…_

That’s all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name "Bastion" for Eugene's birth name comes from original concepts for Eugene's character. Thought that was interesting, but I'm very glad they didn't go with that one. Eugene suits him much better, I'd say.
> 
> Also, the queen of the Dark Kingdom is going to remain nameless for now. I just don't feel quite right giving her a non-canonical name for some reason (despite easily making up other stuff for the sake of the story...). It shall remain a mystery for the time being.


End file.
